Island Troubles
by dS-Tiff
Summary: The whole team is trying to adjust to island life, but Ralph is finding it more difficult than the others. With a lot on his mind he gets himself hurt and needs a little help, physically and emotionally.


_**This story is set during the finale of Season 3, just over a week after the team crash land on the island. I hope you all enjoy it, all comments welcome.**_

"Another flower for my flower." Walter kissed Paige tenderly on the cheek as he presented her with the long stem. A single lilac flower perched precariously on top, its petals tinged brown at the edges. It wasn't the best example of the island's flora, Walter would be the first to admit, but the presentation of this flower was a symbolic gesture of his love for Paige, therefore he did not consider the state of the flower itself of any relevance.

Paige glanced at the broken piece of armrest which was full of all the other flowers Walter had given her since they'd crashed on the island. "Oh, thank you, Walter," she smiled. "If only I had a vase for all these beautiful flowers you keep finding for me." The salt water wasn't able to keep them fresh for long, of course, but she didn't want to risk wasting any of their fresh water supply just in case Walter's invention ever failed.

At first she loved that, despite their predicament, Walter was thinking of romantic gestures, but now, even though she felt terrible for thinking it, it had started to get a little annoying.

"Ah," said Walter with a grin. "I am working on a plan that might just be the answer to your flower display problems."

"That's very sweet," began Paige, "but shouldn't you be working on a different plan? One to get us off this island?" She glanced hopefully out to sea, just in case a ship happened to be passing, but of course she was greeted by the same expanse of empty ocean that been their view for the past nine days.

Walter either wasn't listening, or chose to ignore her. "We are, of course, surrounded by sand," continued Walter, spreading his hands wide and surveying the beach. "And, as any elementary school student knows, glass is made from sand."

"I'm no genius, but don't you have to heat the sand to some crazy temperature to make it into glass?" asked Paige with a confused frown.

"Three thousand ninety degrees Fahrenheit," nodded Walter. "But we can built a furnace from the..."

Before he had chance to continue the explanation, they were interrupted by the sound of Cabe's voice. "Hey, did Ralph come back?" he shouted as he strode out of the tree line.

"I thought he was with you?" replied Paige, with an anxious glance at Walter.

"He was," replied Cabe, looking around worriedly. "We were foraging for nuts and berries, but I left the path to take a leak and when I came back he was gone."

Now Paige really started to panic. She ran towards Cabe with Walter right behind her. "We have to find him!" she yelled.

The shouting caught the attention of Happy, Toby and Scotty who had all been dozing in the evening sunshine. They came running over to join their friends.

"What's going on?" asked Happy.

"Cabe lost my son!" exclaimed Paige.

"Hey, I'm sorry," replied Cabe indignantly. "He's a smart kid, I'm sure he'll find his way back in a few minutes. He probably got distracted by something."

"You were meant to be looking after him!" continued Paige.

"Woah, let's take a moment to breathe," suggested Toby, eager to prevent Paige saying something to Cabe that she'd regret. "Then we'll split up and search for Ralph."

"Toby's right," agreed Walter. "You're wasting energy on an emotional reaction."

"He could be hurt! I'm allowed to be emotional!" Paige yelled at Walter this time. "This is normal behaviour for a mother whose child is missing in the jungle. Tell him, Toby."

Toby took a step back from her, before he replied. "You're right," he agreed, "but so is Walter, as much as I hate to say it." Once he was sure Paige wasn't going to yell at him this time he stepped forward again and put a supportive hand on her shoulder. "Focus your energy on finding Ralph," he urged.

Paige took a deep breath and nodded reluctantly.

"Scotty, come with me," ordered Cabe. "We can retrace my steps. Walter, you and Paige take the other path and Happy and Toby should follow the shoreline, in case he got disorientated and wound up further down the beach."

"That's unlikely," said Walter. "Ralph is perfectly capable of doing using the position of the sun to navigate his way back here."

"Then the only explanation is that he's hurt," said Paige, choking back tears.

"You're right," nodded Happy.

Toby was taken aback at her response. "That was a little blunt, even for you," he noted.

"No, look!" replied Happy, pointing towards the trees.

They all spun round to see Ralph staggering across the sand towards them. His right arm hung loosely at his side and there was blood on his face. It was clear he was having trouble staying on his feet.

"Ralph!" screamed Paige and she ran towards him with Walter, Cabe and Toby.

"I'll get the first aid kit," said Happy, heading towards the wreckage of the aircraft as fast as she could.

Cabe was the first to reach Ralph and he scooped the boy up into his strong arms.

"I'm OK, Mom," said Ralph in a shaky voice, looking apologetically at Paige as Cabe carried him back to camp.

Paige just smiled at him as tears of relief streamed down her face.

"Put him down here," instructed Toby, leading them into his makeshift doctor's office. He flicked over the handwritten sign on the post from 'Out' to 'In' and knelt on the floor beside his new patient just as Happy returned with the first aid kit from the plane. Walter rolled up a blanket to make a pillow and slid it carefully under Ralph's head.

Cabe stepped back to allow Paige to kneel at her son's other side as Toby began to examine him. She tenderly brushed hair from his blood streaked face. "What happened?" she asked, finally finding her voice.

"I... I fell out of a tree," he began, adding, "I'm sorry."

"What were you doing in a tree?" asked Walter in surprise.

"I thought you were going to wait for me on the path?" said Cabe with a frown. "What were you thinking?"

"Let's save the interrogation until later," suggested Toby, looking from Walter to Cabe. Then he turned his attention to Ralph. "Hey, pal, you're OK," he said reassuringly. "But I need to take a look at this head wound."

"His arm doesn't look too good either," noted Happy.

"If he fell from a tree he may have a concussion," added Walter.

"Thank you, everyone," began Toby with more than a hint of sarcasm. "But in case you've forgotten, I have a medical degree from Harvard. I think I know what I'm doing."

"There was this young recruit when I was in the Marines," said Cabe. "Fell from the rigging, broke his collar bone."

"The rigging?" exclaimed Toby. "When exactly were you in the Marines? Eighteen Seventy Five?"

"Ended his career before it had even started, poor kid," continued Cabe, ignoring Toby's jibe.

"Mom..." whimpered Ralph.

"It's OK, I'm here," replied Paige, slipping her hand into his.

Toby took one look at his patient and immediately realised Ralph was struggling with the situation.

"OK, listen up!" he announced, getting to his feet. "Anyone who did not give birth to Ralph, please take a seat in the waiting room!"

Cabe and Walter exchanged a puzzled glance. The only one of the group who made a move to leave was Scotty.

"Now!" added Toby, more urgently this time. "Skedaddle, vamoose!"

Happy realised her new husband meant business and grabbed Walter by the shoulder, dragging him away with Cabe close behind and they headed back towards the wreckage of the plane to wait.

Toby returned to his knees and checked Ralph's pulse. Then he filled half a coconut shell with fresh water and held it to Ralph's lips. "Here, take a sip," he instructed.

Ralph lifted his head slightly and lapped gratefully at the water.

"What is it?" asked Paige with concern. "What's wrong?"

"He's fine," replied Toby, setting the coconut down on the sand.

"Then why send everyone away?" Paige questioned him.

"Is it OK if I tell your Mom?" Toby asked the young genius.

"Sure," replied Ralph quietly.

"All the fuss and attention," Toby began to explain. "It can all be a little overwhelming to a genius mind. Am I right, pal?"

Ralph nodded silently.

"We're processing a lot of information at once and constant distractions can be difficult to cope with. That's why you climbed that tree in the first place, isn't it?" said Toby. "Just to get away from everyone for a while?"

Ralph nodded again.

"Oh, Ralph," said Paige, squeezing his hand gently. "I'm sorry, I should have realised. Living in such close quarters with everyone like this must be so hard for you. I know how you like to spend time in your room."

"The rest of us have developed our own coping mechanisms since we got here," continued Toby. "At least most of us have, I'm not so sure about Sly. Now then, Ralph, let me take a look at your arm."

"I'm pretty sure I haven't broken my collar bone," said Ralph.

"I'm with you on that one," agreed Toby as he gently manipulated Ralph's arm. "No broken bones at all."

Paige let out a huge sigh of relief. "Next time you need space, just tell me. Deal?"

"Deal," agreed Ralph with a weak smile.

"I'm going to find you some kava root and then I'll patch you up," said Toby.

"Mom, you should go and wait with Walter and the others," said Ralph.

Paige was a little taken aback. She glanced at Toby who gave a little nod of reassurance. "Um, well as long as Toby doesn't need a nurse?" she said.

"I've got this," replied Toby. "You should go and finish that conversation you were having with Walter."

"Wait, how did you…?" began Paige, but then she realised that her body language must have given her away. "Thank you, Toby," she smiled. "But we were just talking about making glass." At Toby and Ralph's puzzled looks she added, "Don't ask." Then she kissed her son on the forehead before walking away.

"Here," said Toby, handing some kava root to Ralph. "Chew it like gum and then spit it out. It'll take the edge off the pain."

Ralph did as he was told and then Toby filled another coconut shell with water, ready to start cleaning up Ralph.

"You know, if I had to choose a group of people to get stranded on a desert island with it would be Team Scorpion," Ralph said with his mouth full. "At least you guys understand me. Thank you for explaining it to my Mom. I worry that she still doesn't get me sometimes and... and if she doesn't get me then... then…" he trailed off and spat the remains of his root out onto the sand.

"You're worried she won't understand Walter either," Toby finished his sentence for him.

Ralph nodded and sighed as Toby tore a small towel into strips, soaked it in water and started to clean the cut on Ralph's head.

"I've wanted this for so long," continued Ralph. "And now it's finally happened I don't feel so… I guess I feel like… I can't really explain it, but now Walter can finally be my Dad, I'm scared it won't last."

"That's a lot of feelings you're talking about there," Toby acknowledged. "It's normal to be concerned about your Mom, because she's your Mom. And you care about Walter too, so all those feelings are perfectly natural. Just don't let it overwhelm you, OK?"

"I'll try not to," replied Ralph. He shifted his weight a little in the sand, hoping that making himself more comfortable physically would help with his emotional discomfort too.

Toby understood exactly what he was trying to do. "The unknown can be pretty scary, right?" he said. He sat back on his haunches and gave Ralph an encouraging smile.

Ralph nodded. "I can't calculate, or predict what's going to happen. Walter and my mom are the two people I should understand the most, but…" he trailed off and sighed.

"You're tying yourself up in knots over this, pal," Toby pointed out. "Just try to relax. I've given up trying to make predictions when it comes to those two and if the greatest behaviourist in the world can't make sense of them, no one can." He picked up a clean piece of towelling and finished wiping Ralph's face.

"It didn't last between Mom and my real Dad and he's a human," Ralph reminded him.

Toby couldn't help but smile at Ralph's use of the word 'human' to describe a non-genius, just like Walter always did. "Look, I don't know exactly what happened between your Mom and Drew, but they were young and Drew had his career to think about and I guess it just wasn't right for them. What your Mom has with Walter is different."

"Do you think they're gonna make it?" asked Ralph.

"Off the island?" asked Toby, deliberately trying to deflect the conversation. "Hey, we're all gonna make it! The 'Guaranteed Success 3' is almost seaworthy and..."

"I'm a genius," Ralph reminded him. "Don't think I'm not going to notice if you change the subject."

"I'm really not too comfortable talking about your Mom and Walter like this," admitted Toby.

"I know, I read your markers," replied Ralph.

"Good work, Ralphy-Boy," grinned Toby. "I taught you well. OK, this cut on your head is deep, but clean. Should heal up nicely in a few days, won't even leave a scar. I'm going to cut a Band-aid into strips and close it that way."

Ralph nodded silently and let Toby work on the wound. The kava root had kicked in and he was starting to feel a little better.

"You know, the best person to talk to about this is your Mom," said Toby as he applied the sticky strips to Ralph's head. "Don't shut her out. It'll be a good opportunity for you to work on your EQ."

"OK, I'll try," agreed Ralph.

"Now, these scrapes and bruises are going to be sore for a while," said Toby turning his attention to Ralph's injured arm. "We'll use some aloe to prevent infection."

"Toby," nodded Ralph. "Can I ask you one more question?"

"About your Mom and Walter?" queried Toby.

"You told me once that you didn't think anything was going to happen between them," said Ralph.

"I did say that," admitted Toby. "I guess I was... well, I guess I was wrong, but that stays between you and me, OK?"

"OK," laughed Ralph.

"Adult relationships are complex at the best of times," explained Toby. "And Walter's mind still beats the heck outta me most of the time. To be honest I'd given up hope for them, but I'm quite happy to stand corrected, just this once."

"I can't wait to get back home so we can be a real family," said Ralph. "Even though I don't really know how to do that. It's been just me and Mom for so long. Scorpion – all you guys – you're our family too now, of course, but it's not the same as having a Mom and Dad."

"And you know we'll always be here for you, whatever happens," Toby assured him. He knew nothing in the world could prepare Ralph for having Walter as his Dad and there were bound to be ups and downs, but he hoped they would all be strong enough to work through them.

"Thanks," replied Ralph.

"There, all done," smiled Toby and he started to pack away the first-aid kit.

"I don't think I'll climb any more trees," said Ralph.

"Good choice," agreed Toby. "If you need alone time there are plenty of places to go on this island that aren't six feet in the air."

Ralph nodded and smiled. "I know," he said. Then his smile faded. "I just wish I could go home."

"Me too," agreed Toby, glancing longingly over towards Happy. "We all do. And we will get there, it just might take a little longer than we first thought."

THE END.


End file.
